What the Rock?!: Abbey Road on the River

Mike and I went to see Abbey Road on the River this past weekend. It's an annual Beatles fest that happens every Memorial Day weekend in Louisville Ky...on you guesssed it, the Ohio River. I have been a lifelong Beatles fan, so I have wanted to check this festival out for a while...and we happen to have Mondays off, so we got to see it. There are Beatles cover bands playing all weekend long, as well as other 60's style groups performing on two stages. The bands come from all over the world, one of the ones we saw called Nube 9 was from Argentina. Since we went on a Monday, it was cheaper to get in, only $15. Other days cost $25-$30 depending on how much access you want. There is a "ticket to ride" which gets you in to see all the bands, indoors and out, and gets you some swag like tee shirts and stuff. We also missed most of the Beatles cover bands and Leon Russel, who played Sat. night, and Peter Noone from Hermans Hermits, who played Friday night.

We did see Nube 9, from Argentina, who were really good. They played 60's songs like the Turtles, Kinks, etc. The girl had such anice voice, and I enjoyed their rendition of the Ronettes "Be My Baby". They played a couple of their original tunes, in Spanish, and I liked them as well. The sounded like 60's psych pop. And saw a bit of Itchycoo Park, who were singing 60's hits as well. The Pranksters played hippy-style sixities rock a la the Dead and Iron Butterfly. There was a Jimi Hendrix look alike guy there, too. Caught the tail end of his act. He did okay....but it's hard to be as good a s Jimi. Tattoo Babylon was a Stones msotly cover band, and they were okay. Saw a band of long haired kids do a metalish cover of Wings "Band on the Run" that was pretty cool. And I was excited to see Wingsbanned, since I thought they would play Wings songs...but they played one Paul song--Let Me Roll it...and then the rest were just sixities songs taht I have heard a million times. A little disappointing.

They had a couple vendors selling Beatles stuff, and a few handmade item vendors. I think they would have benefitted from more vendors with more unique stuff....maybe next year we will see how much it is to vend there? there wasn't a whole lot of people in attendance, but again, it was Monday. What I did notice was people of all ages dancing and singing along to the songs...every one was having fun. They had the usual food choices..hot dogs, pizza, popcorn, etc. And drinks weren't too bad for the rpice. They had a Beatles themed drink stand...I got a Yellow Submarine which was whisky and lemonade--it was pretty damn tasty. Beer was $6 for a 20 oz, but it was only Bud or Bud Light. They were cheaper than the hotel drinks, however. So all in all, not bad. We had a good time, and the setting being right on the riverfront park, was just beautiful. Here are some pics from the show...